Railway-mail delivery



- H. E. SMITH.

RAILWA-Y MAIL DELIVERY.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 21. I918.

Patented Jan. 4, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT E. SMITH, OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTON, ASSTGNOR TO SPOKANE MAILEQUIPMENT COMPANY, OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.

RAILWAY-MAIL DELIVERY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 4, 1921.

Application filed October 21, 1918. Serial No. 259,049.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT E. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Spokane, in the county of Spokane and State of Washington,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway- MailDelivery, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in railway mail delivery,and particu-" larly to the supporting member or arm employed to suspendthe mail pouches, said arm being fixed to a horizontally rotatable shaftor bar that may be carried by the railway car, or may be operativelysupported at the railway station or other designated place.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of a supporting armthat is capable of adjustment to compensate for irregularities in theapparatus due to dislocation or movement of the railway track andconsequent alteration of the fixed distance between the stationarysupport for the apparatus, caused frequently in the spring of the yearwhen the ground is affected by the action of frost, and again, thesettling of the railway track at a given point will frequently cause thepassing mail car to tip slightly and take with it the delivery andexchange apparatus. These irregularities are overcome by adjusting thesupporting arm as herein contemplated, and the arm is capable of.further manipulation for adapting it to certain fixed requirements, aswill hereinafter be more specifically pointed out. In the accompanyingdrawings one complete example of the reversible and adjustablesupporting arm is illustrated as actually in use, both on themovingtrainand at the mail station on the railroad, this constructionembodying the best mode so far devised for carrying out the principlesof the invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the supporting arm of the deliveryapparatus, showing the joint member partly in section, and showing aportion of the revoluble, vertical shaft or post of the apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the device of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, vertical sectional view of the joint member orhead by which the arm is coupled with the shaft, illustrattical post orshaft 1 is revolubly supported in bearings either on the side of themail car, or forming part of the stationary support for the apparatus,and the supporting arm indicated as a whole by the numeral 2 is adaptedto swing or revolve with the shaft in well known manner, when receiving,delivering, or exchanging mail pouches.

The su porting arm comprises a metallic bar or roc 3 formed at one endwith an annular' groove 4 .and a short, longitudinal groove 5 havingflaring walls and extending from the annular groove to the edge or endof the bar, and this bar also has a transverse opening 6 which extendstherethrough in the plane of the annular groove 4:, so that this openingand groove may co-act, respectively,

with the retaining pintle 7 and its hollow, incasing plug 8. The pintlehas a head 9 resting on the upper end of the plug, and a radiallyprojecting pin 10 on 'the pintle guides the pintle while traveling inthe interior groove 11 of the plug, a transverse slot 12 in the plug,near its head, affording a recess or socket into which the pin 10 may bepushed if it is desired to free the plug from the pintle and its pin.The pintle may be withdrawn, or partly withdrawn through the plug, andduring this movement the pin 10 moves in the guide slot or groove 11 inthe plug as readily understood At 13 the plug is provided with exteriorscrew threads for engagement with one of the threaded openings 14,(three of them being shown) bored radially in the wall of the socketmember 15 of the head 16 by which the arm 2 is secured to the shaft 1.The head 16 has a vertical opening therethrough for the shaft 1, and

the socket member is bored to receive the grooved end of the arm. Thus,in Fig. 3, the arm is held in the socket, against both r0- tatable andlongitudinal movement by the pintle and by the shouldered end 1 7 of theretaining plug, the pintle passing through the opening 6 and the plugengaging in the annular groove 4. To rotate the arm while still in itssocket, the pintle is withdrawn and held in this position by engagementof the pin 10 in the slot 12 of the plug, and then the arm may berevolved, being retained and guided by the shouldered end 17 of the plugin the annular groove. If the arm is to be withdrawn from the socket ofthe head, the arm may be turned until the plug and longitudinal slot 5are alined, and then the arm may be withdrawn.

The armis rotated, or turned through an angle of 180 with relation tothe socket, in order that the receiving device, indicated as a whole bythe number 18, may be turned out of operative position so that the armmay be swung around to parallel position along'the side of the mail car,and of course the arm is held in this position with the receiving devicein-a vertical plane by'the plug engaging the groove 4: in the arm or bar3. If it is desired to elongate the supporting arm, this can readily bedone by removing the screw plug 8, pulling the bar outwardly withrelation to the socket member 15 until the groove 1 alines or registerswith the desired threaded opening 14: at the right in Fig. 3, thenre-inserting the pintle and plug into their respective retaining parts.

The receiver 18 comprises a pair of diverging, flat, tines 19 and 20each formed with an integral sleeve 21 that is grooved interiorly, toslide on the key or feather 22 fixed in and extending longitudinally ofthe bar 3 of the arm, and these sleeves may be held in adjusted positionon the bar by means of the pins 23,.two to each sleeve, so that thetines of the fork may be adjusted with relation-to-each other, as wellas being capable of adjustment as a pair in relation to the bar 3 or itskey 22.

The tine 19 of the fork is provided with a retaining latch 24-, pivotedat 25, and the spring 26 carried by the tine holds the latch in closedposition with relation to the other tine. The location of the latch onthe inside tine of the fork-receiver enables the release finger 27 to beplaced in accessible position so that the pouch supporting member may bereleased quickly after having been received by the forks, and a stop orabutment 28 is rovided to limit the movement of the latch eyond a properpoint.

The delivery device which is located at the free end of the armcomprises a bar 29 that is slidable in a socket 30 in the end of therod, and the slot 31 of the rod accommodates the adjusting bolt 32. Thehead of the rod is provided with shoulders 34 to limit the swingingmovement of the forked and pivoted supporting member 35, and the endsofthe forked member are fashioned with 1ugs36, 36,. to preventdisplacement or loss of the supporting chain by means of which the mailpouch is suspended from the supporting arm.

It will readily be seen that the supporting arm may be reversed andchanged to the opposite side of a car door for use when the car travelsin the reverse direction. The supporting fork 35 is capable of swingingthrough an arc of 180 to insure proper operation of the device in casethe pouch suspending device is improperly placed on the fork 35. Thusthe point of suspension of the pouch is always beyond the pivot point 37of the fork, and if the fork is improperly pointing in the direction inwhich the car is traveling, yet the fork will deliver the pouch becausethe impact of the catcher will swing the fork around to position so thatthe pouch suspending device may be freed from the delivery fork. Thedouble lugs 36 on-the delivery fork guard against displacement of thepouch suspending device when the supporting arm is in either of its twooperative positions. The location of the latch 24tbetween the two flattines of the receiving fork insures and guards the latch againstaccidental displacement and consequent loss of the received pouch, forthe reason that the latch is protected against all other contact. Thedevice as a whole is specially adapted for facility in adjusting itsparts to adapt it for varying condition arising in the delivery ofrailway mail, and is compactly arranged within small compass,

and withal highly eflicientin'performing the functions for which it isintended.

Claims:

1. The combination with the swinging head formed with a socket and a barretained in the head and supporting a receiver and said bar and sockethaving coacting m'eans whereby the receiver may be turned to inoperativeposition when the bar is to remain inoperative.

2. The combination in a supporting arm comprising a head having a socketmember and a bar carrying mail exchanging devices, said bar having anannular groove and the socket having a detent to engage the groove.

3. The combination in a supporting arm comprising a head having a socketmember with openings therein and a hollow plug in one of the openings,of a bar formed with an annular groove to receive the plug and having atransverse opening, and a pintle operatively associated with the'hollowplug and passing through said transverse openmg.

4. The combination with the head having the socket member with openingstherein, of a supporting bar reversible and detachable and provided withan annular groove and a longitudinal groove opening at its end, a hollowplug detent inone of said openings engaging said annular groove andadapted to pass through the longitudinal groove, a radial opening in thebar, and a pintle carried by the plug to engage in said last opening.

5. The combination with a bar carrying mail exchanging devices andhaving a socket at its free end, of a delivery device compris- 'mg ahead having a stem adjustably held in the socket, and a pivoted pouchsupporting member carried by the head.

6. The combination with a bar carrying mail exchanging devices andhaving a socket at its end, of an adjustable, pivoted, supportingdelivery device secured in said socket.

7 The combination with the bar having 15 an end socket, of a deliverydevice comprising a head having shoulders and a forked supporting devicepivoted between the shoulders, and a slotted stem on the head ad'ustablyretained in the socket. 20

n testimony whereof I afi'ix my si ature.

HERBERT E. S TH.

